The Life We Left Behind
by Halpert-fan
Summary: Tiny little stories about what happened before there was a plot.
1. Ed the Jerk

**Note from the Author:** Thought this would be fun to write about! - I've always wanted to see more of Ed and Al as kids. With that, of course, comes a little Winry too. Right now, I think I'm just trying to make them sound more like seven and six years old than anything. Obviously, I'm working on making them sound like their character, but I'm not all that talented with that yet, so hopefully I'll have the three down by the time I'm done with this!

**DISCLAIMER:** I don't own Full Metal Alchemist or any of the characters, no matter how much I may want to.

* * *

"Ed!" Winry yelled angrily, "Wait for Al! He can't run as fast as you!" Ed spun around, the backpack on his shoulders flopping around wildly. He stuck his tongue out at his childhood friend, who had her arms around a depressed and near-tears Alphonse, telling him "Ed was just a big, fat jerk" and saying he "Just likes to show off."

"It's his own fault he's slow!" Ed called back, before running on towards the schoolhouse.

"No it's not!" Al cried, tears coming back to his eyes, threatening to pour down in floods. Winry gave him another hug.

"You could be a little nicer!" Winry yelled again, louder this time, to be sure Ed heard it clearly, "He's only six!" Ed didn't respond this time, only causing Winry to become more enraged. "Come on, Al. We're gonna be late." She tried to sound loving, but her anger towards Ed was too strong. It just couldn't be masked.

"Maybe brother doesn't love me anymore…" Al sniffed, rubbing the other eye clean of tears. Winry stopped muttering evil things to herself to scold Al this time.

"Oh Al! That's ridiculous! Ed doesn't hate you at all! No one can! You're too nice," she told him with a smile she was surprised she could muster. Quickly returning to her state of almost bursting into flames, she added, "Ed on the other hand…"

"Hey look!" Al said happily, pointing down the road, a huge grin planted on his face. Ed was running back towards them. Winry suddenly felt a little bad for being so mean to him…

Once the blonde seven-year-old stood in front of his friend and little brother, he moved his eyes to his feet.

"Sorry," he mumbled, barely audible enough for the other to hear it, and then went taking off again.

"Hey wait! What kind of apology is that?" Winry called out, rage returning and regret vanishing, "When I catch up to you, you're gonna be sorry!" She instantly took of running after Ed. Al followed suit. Believing Ed had indirectly started a game of tag, he broke out into childish laughter, running faster than neither Ed nor Winry believed he could.

"Tag! You're it!" he cheered, tapping/hitting Ed on the shoulder as he passed by both astonished children. After a moment's hesitation as Al continued ahead of his brother, Ed smiled viciously.

"We'll see about that!" he threatened, and sped up.

"Guys! Wait up!" Winry whined, using every ounce of strength she had to catch up to the Elric brothers.


	2. The Elric Rumours

**Note from the Author: **Okay...this chapter sort of defeated my goal that I stated in the beginning- you know, of making the characters sound like themselves? It's more of the teacher's point of view. This probably won't happen too often, but I just kinda write whatever's on my mind write then and there, so I never really know what's going to come out. Anyway, I had fun with this chapter. Ed and his teacher...the true story may never be revealed, but here's my telling.

**DISCLAIMER:** I don't own Full Metal Alchemist or any of the characters, no matter how much I may want to.

* * *

"Edward! You're late!" Miss Meyers yelled the minute the three walked in the door. Their spontaneous game had gone overtime. They had all been tagged twice and the only way to determine who officially lost the game was to tag just one more person. Whoever had three points was declared loser, and the remaining two would share victory.

Winry lost.

"They're late too! Why yell at _me_?!" Ed shouted back, pointing at Al and Winry, who were feeling rather betrayed at the moment.

"Of course," the teacher corrected, calming down by clearing her throat, "Please take your seats you three. I don't want this to happen again." She shot a look at Ed, who glared just as coldly, if not more so, back at his teacher.

"Do you have something you'd like to say to me, Mr. Elric?" Miss Meyers snapped in response to Ed's icy stare.

"No, teacher," Al innocently answered.

"Oh, no, Al, not you," she assured the younger of the two, a gentle smile radiating her face, "I was talking to your brother." _How did such a sweet little boy become the brother of the devil reincarnate? _her mind bit.

"Sorry, I got nothing," Ed said in response to the question which had been meant for him.

"Really?" the teacher tried keeping a loving tone, but it came out more bittersweet, "From the way you were looking at me, I could have sworn you wanted to tell me something."

"What do you know," Ed sarcastically sighed, "You're wrong again." Miss Meyers felt herself tense as she pointed to the hallway.

"Out!" she shouted, "Don't forget the buckets!" Ed hopped out of his seat, grumbling as he walked to the door, angrily snatched up the water-filled buckets, one in each hand, and stepped out the door. He set down both buckets so he could get both hands on the door to the classroom and slam it shut with all of his strength.

Miss Meyers took a deep breath in and let it out through her mouth. She had to be harsher with him than her other students. He was the only one who acted out in class…

Miss Meyers had declared Edward Elric as her one and only enemy on her very first day of teaching, almost one year ago. Apparently, the previous teacher had quit in a state similar to insanity, telling the entire staff that she just couldn't work with "a boy like that Edward." Miss Meyers had seen it as her opportunity to prove her skill as a teacher. She was going to be sweet, loving, understanding- the whole package! -and there was no way any one of her little students could think about harassing her. But she had thought this Edward would be just another troubled child, in need of someone to hear his problems and help him.

Not. At. All.

In the first hour of her lesson in the little countryside schoolhouse, somewhere from the middle of the sea of desks, a young voice began complaining about the math being written on the board.

"This is BO-ORING!" it informed, "I thought school was supposed to be educational!" Miss Meyers had spun around furiously, trying to catch the culprit before everything had returned to normal. But it wasn't hard to single out the child leaning back in his chair, letting out an exaggerated yawn. She didn't have to ask who he was.

"Do you have a problem with my lesson, Mr. Elric?" she tried to ask kindly, remembering her plan.

"Yes," Ed blatantly replied, putting his head on his desk, "I'm going to bed now. Wake me up when I can _learn_ something."

And that was that. He was her enemy. Always and forever. She tried punishing him for anything even remotely out of line, hoping she could have her revenge. She tried shoving him out in the hall, keeping him after class, talking with his parents, even going so far as to threaten him with suspension, but he didn't care.

Ed was convinced he was the only one who could teach himself anything.


	3. Present

**Note from the Author:** Yay! Returning to the main characters again! Not much Winry this time though...Oh well. I hope I'll these little short stories down to "perfection" by the time I've run out of ideas. Hopefully that's even possible, haha. And please forgive their shortness. I don't think anyone will mind but, as I've said before, I just sort of write, so...they aren't very long. Can't be helped, I guess!

**DISCLAIMER:** I don't own Full Metal Alchemist or any of the characters, no matter how much I may want to.

* * *

"Man, today was so boring," Ed whined, hands in his pockets, kicking a rock at his feet as he left the building with Al and Winry.

"Maybe it would have been better if you decided to be a good student, and stop getting yourself sent to the hallway," Winry retorted, a smug look on her face. She was obviously proud of her success as one of Miss Meyers favorite students.

"Yeah, Ed," Al agreed, sounding much nicer compared to Winry, "She just wants to teach us. And who knows, maybe there's something she has to tell us that we don't know."

"Don't be stupid, Al," Ed snapped, "You know we're just wasting time coming here. We're probably ten times smarter than that old lady _ever _will be!"

"Not true! I think she's really smart!" Al fought. After realizing he had sounded rude to his idolized brother, he bit his lip and looked at the dirt passing behind him on the road home. Ed sighed.

"Whatever," he said, "I'm bored there and that's that."

"Geez, Ed," Winry started harshly, "You can be such a jerk." Ed stuck his tongue out at her for the second time that day, but this time it was returned with an identical action. They were locked in the battle of "I-can-stick-my-tongue-out-longer-than-you-so-take-that-you-big-meanie." The battle no child can lose…

Al broke the tension, and distracted the two from the silent war, by getting down on his knees and happily drawing an intricate circle in the dirt with his finger. The lines were a little crooked, and the circle was a bit messy, but for a six-year-old, it was a masterpiece.

"I'm gonna make something for mom!" he cheered, looking up at Ed and Winry, joy scribbled on every inch of his face, "Wanna help?" Ed smiled back and joined Al on the ground.

"Are you making anything scary?" Winry asked, her voice trembling slightly as she remembered the first time she witnessed the brothers performing "magic."

"Of course not, idiot!" Ed said a little too coldly, "It's for our mom!" Winry held back her anger, ready to say a lot of things she'd regret saying later. But with the regret, and faint sense of satisfaction, would come some form of punishment from her parents, who happened to be close friends with her friends' mother, Trisha. The two families worked as one. It's as though they were one family, just living in separate houses.

"All right, ready Al?" Ed asked, hands itching to touch the circle in front of him.

"Ready!" Al joyfully said. The two boys placed the palm of their hands on the edge of the transmutation circle and watched as the outer circle illuminated. Inside, the dirt began to shift in every possible way, as though something were trying to crawl out of a hole that had been recently covered.

One small stick came shooting up out of the ground, followed quickly by nine more. The sticks began to soften as the tips in the air grew out, forming a little ball. The ball continued to shape and extend until ten purple daisies laid on the ground. The light disappeared and Ed and Al exchanged smiles, happy with their work. Al quickly bunched them all together in a bouquet and went running towards his home.

"Come on, Ed! We have to give them to mom!" he called, looking back over his shoulder.

"Right!" Ed called back, "See you tomorrow Winry!" He waved while twisting his body backwards- a difficult task while running. Once Ed realized how horribly hard it was to do such a thing by almost falling flat on his face, he looked straight forward to see Al already half way up the hill.

"Hey, wait for me, Al!" he shouted, but his younger brother was too excited to hear.


	4. Operation: Lovely Breakfast

**Note from the Author: **Psyche! You thought it was going to be a story with a plot! Well, it's not. It was intended to be a chain of short stories, and a chain it shall be. I don't know why the last one was in more of a story format, but it's not really what I was planning. You never know- maybe a plot line will show up later on, but life doesn't really have a set plot, so why should theirs? Well...maybe it's not the best idea, but hopefully that means the story will never get boring!

**DISCLAIMER: **I don't own Full Metal Alchemist or any of the characters, no matter how much I may want to.

* * *

"Al!" Ed scolded in a harsh whisper, "You're messing everything up!" Al stopped trying to mix the floury dough (which was puffing up in clouds all around the two, creating a dusty-looking counter piled with dusty-looking utensils). He let go of the wooden spoon he had been using to try to stir and quickly brought his hands down in front of him.

Ed and Al had woken up almost two hours earlier than they would have liked in order to do something special for their mom. She always made them breakfast- not to mention the other meals in the day. It was time someone made _her _a warm, delicious meal. But of course, losing two hours of sleep made one brother rather angry and one brother rather scatter-brained.

"Sorry, brother, I'm just trying to help," Al apologized a little too loudly.

"Shhh!" Ed silently scram at his younger brother. Tears started forming in Al's big blue eyes. He tried to hide his face from his idolized sibling, but with not much success. Ed felt a surge of guilt and sighed. He quickly tossled Al's hair and went back to working on the perfect breakfast for their perfect mother.

"You can work on the eggs, okay?" Ed instructed quietly. Al's face brightened in an instant.

"Okay!" he cheered, hastily jumping off his stool in front of the counter he had been previously working at, and moved the wooden box closer to the stove.

"But be quiet!" Ed yelled in a whisper, again, "We don't want to wake mom up!"

"Right!" Al agreed, just as loudly as his previous cheer. Ed just growled a little bit and went back to making Trisha's favorite blueberry muffins. He hadn't thought cooking would be that hard. It was just like alchemy- minus the science. But it was so much harder when you _couldn't _apply science. Ed wanted to believe it was as basic as following the instructions in the cookbook lain before him, but that was just too easy. There was no way…_There has to be some trick to it or something_, Ed thought, reading through the procedure carefully one more time.

"Um…brother?" Al began innocently, and quietly this time, "Their stuck to the pan…" Ed looked up from his meticulous search and ran over to the stove, worried part two of the lovely breakfast was ruined. He turned off the heat and looked in the pan to see the problem. It was Al had said. They were stuck- and leaving a gross, yellow, eggy peel on the base of the pan.

"What did you _do_ to them Al?" Ed asked angrily, forgetting to keep his voice low. His mistake caused Al to forget to stay silent as well.

"I didn't _do_ anything brother! I made them just like you told me!" he fought back, the lack of sleep starting to kick his nerves as well.

"Well then why are they stuck?!"

"I don't know! You must have told me how to make them wrong!"

"Don't blame me for this!"

"But it's your fault!"

"Don't yell at your brother, idiot!"

"I'm not an idiot!"

"Boys?" Ed and Al froze and exchanged a worried/disappointed look at the other. Both turned their eyes to the door of the kitchen. There she was. Trisha. Standing at the door.

"Is everything all right?" she asked, "I thought I heard you two fighting again." Ed and Al both felt the guilt turn to tears. They hung their heads and looked away from their sweet mother, too ashamed of themselves to do anything more.

There was silence for a moment as Trisha walked over to the counter, then to the stove her sons, who were trying hard not to cry, were standing at.

"Was this for me?" she asked. The boys could only nod their heads, still intently looking at their feet.

"Thank you so much," she said, wrapping Ed and Al into a tight hug, "That was so thoughtful." When she at last released her sons, she smiled brightly at the two of them and stood up to see the inside of the pan- and to find out just what it was they had been fighting about. She laughed to herself.

"First thing you should know about cooking eggs," she told the two at her feet, "is to always remember to put oil in first. It shouldn't stick after that, but if it does- it's no big deal. See? All that arguing for nothing. I think you two owe the other an apology." Her tone was too loving and understanding for the boys to even think about protesting. Al immediately gave his brother a big hug.

"It wasn't your fault," he cried a little too excessively, "It was mine."

"No it wasn't," Ed told him, still a little harshly, but with good intentions, "And you're not an idiot…"

"That's better. Now why don't I show you a few tricks?" she asked. The brothers' guilt and sadness disappeared and was replaced with excitement. Though they weren't able to actually make their mother the lovely breakfast, they learned how. And in about a week, when Ed insisted their mother had forgotten about the whole incident, they tried again. It was the best breakfast a mother could have asked for.


	5. To See You Smile

**Note from the Author:** No Al in this one, sadly, but I thought this would be a really cute idea. I kinda wondered about this idea for a while, and when I couldn't find an answer, I wrote one! But, you know, Ed does _not _seem like the type who would like Valentine's Day.

**DISCLAIMER: **I don't own Full Metal Alchemist or any of the characters, no matter how much I may want to.

* * *

He couldn't take the pressure. So much pressure…So much doubt…So many options…On more than one occasion that day, Ed had run into the store, stood panting, and left- meaning, on more than one occasion, the poor clerk had nearly called the cops on a nine-year-old boy.

Today was Valentine's Day. Ed's least favorite day of the year. On a normal Valentine's Day, Ed would have put on a more cynical mood than his average self and made the entire world feel horrible about themselves. But this year, he couldn't do that. Winry's parents had died only a few months before. Ed wanted to cheer her up.

"Come on, Edward, be a man!" he encouraged himself, and charged the front desk of the little gift store.

"What do girls like?!" he yelled at the female clerk, grateful that a man hadn't been in her position. The woman stared at the little boy for a moment before smiling sweetly. _How cute_, she thought.

"Well…it really depends on the girl," the clerk began before interrupted by another of Ed's screams. He thrust his face into the palms of his hands and continued to groan loudly.

"That doesn't help me at all!" he whined, "You don't _know _Winry!! You can't help me!"

"Well, why didn't you think of that _before _you asked the question?!" the clerk yelled back. Ed groaned again and left the store.

_All right, Ed, think, what does Winry like? _Ed wondered, believing he had some idea, but not quite sure if it were true. He started kicking a little rock at his feet, hands in his pockets, when he saw it.

The perfect gift.

What Winry would love most.

What would cheer her up.

It lay in the window, sparkling like silver. Ed would never again feel the same excitement from such an item as he did in that moment. He quickly pulled out the money in his pocket. He had been saving up since the day he had heard Winry's parents had been killed. Sure enough, he was one dollar over.

Ed quickly ran into the shop and asked specifically for the thing he had seen in the window. _That _was the one that would make Winry happy. When he asked for it wrapped, the clerk looked at him oddly, but complied.

"Here you go, kid," he grunted, handing a smiley Ed a newly wrapped package.

"Thank you!" Ed called, pushing the door open with his back, hands preoccupied, and running to Winry's. He couldn't wait to see her face when she opened it.

When the house came into view, he could see the little blond girl sitting on the front steps, looking down at her feet.

"Winry!" Ed called, laughing with excitement, his face about to be ripped in two by his ever-growing smile. The girl looked up. Tears were in her eyes. She wiped them away as fast as she could.

"Hi, Ed," she greeted, trying to sound happy to see him. Ed didn't mind that she wasn't happy now. She would be in just a moment.

"Here!" Ed shouted unnecessarily, handing Winry the package, "Happy Valentine's Day!" Winry looked surprised as she took the box from Ed and set it in her lap. _Ed _never _celebrates Valentine's Day, _she thought, beginning to wonder if he was pulling some sort of trick on her.

"Hurry up, open it!" Ed complained with happiness. He began to bounce up and down very slightly. Suddenly, Winry's thoughts changed from trick to all the lovely possibilities of a present a girl could receive on such a day.

She began to unwrap. _Flowers- not likely. Stuffed animal- well…maybe. Chocolate- could be. _But inside she found a gift she would never forget. One she would never lose or replace. In her lap, lay the perfect wrench. Instantly, her eyes began to glow.

"Oh, Edward! Thank you so much!" she squealed, pressing the wrench against her cheek, feeling the cold, smooth surface against her skin. Ed smiled brightly in victory.

"It was nothing!" he assured, happy to see her back to her old self. The smile vanished when Winry turned her attention to him. She threw her arms around him and gave him a warm hug.

"Really, thank you so, so, _so _much!" she repeated, still holding her new favorite wrench. Ed felt himself start to blush.

"Y-yeah, sure thing," he rephrased, having trouble getting the words out.

"Ooh! I'm gonna use it right now!" Winry declared, letting go of Ed, hitting the back of his head with the wrench on accident and running into the house. Ed gripped the wounded area with his hand, but could hardly feel the pain.

He smiled, and ran home.


	6. Ah, The Night

**Note from the Author: **Okay, I finally have an update for everyone, and it's really short. But I wrote this at 4:00 in the morning, when I could sleep. Of course, when you can't sleep, all you can think about is not sleeping, so, this story was born.

**DISCLAIMER:** I don't own Full Metal Alchemist or any of the characters, no matter how much I want to.

* * *

"Ed," Al whispered, "Ed! Wake up!" The elder Elric rolled over, still half asleep, and pushed a lazy arm towards his younger brother.

"Go 'way, Al," he mumbled, barely moving his mouth.

"But brother…" Al began to whine. He was interrupted, though, but an almost loud wail from Ed that really meant nothing, but rather symbolized that if he were woken up again- there would be blood. Al sighed and walked back to his bed, crawling back under the covers. He lay awake a moment longer, his eyes unwilling to shut. He had tried everything from counting sheep to reciting the periodic table of elements and their corresponding atomic masses, but nothing was working. It was just one of those nights.

Al couldn't sleep.

"Boron- 10.811, Carbon- 12.011, Nitrogen-14.007..."Al muttered to himself so quietly, one would be unsure if any noise were actually escaping his mouth. Once he arrived at the second noble gas, he stopped and sighed. If anything, it was just keeping him awake more. Maybe if he just forced his eyes shut and was still for a while…

Al couldn't be sure how much time had really passed, but when it felt like hours had gone by, he got out of bed again and moved towards his brother.

"Ed," he whispered again, "Ed! Wake up!" This time, Ed was really ready to show no mercy. He shot straight up and shot a flashing death glare at Al.

"Dammit, what d'you want?!" he asked harshly. Al jumped a little.

"Um, I can't sleep…" Ed lay back down and groaned.

"That's it…?" he whined. Al nodded in the dark, putting a little emphasis on it by adding an innocent "mhmm" to the mix. Ed sighed.

"Well what am I supposed to do about it?" Ed asked, his voice already becoming groggy again as he drifted back to sleep.

"Um, I don't know…Sorry, brother…" As Al said the words, he didn't think Ed heard them, or he probably would have been yelled at, with Ed in such a dangerous mood. The younger Elric walked back to his bed, again, and crawled under the covers, again. Immediately, his mind began balancing equations. Quick and simple- was there a better way to put oneself to sleep? Al smiled as he felt the effects of the easy equations. Just when he was about to at last drift off, Ed screamed.

He ran to Al's bed.

"Al!" he whispered, "Al! Wake up!" Al rubbed his eyes and tried to focus on the dark shadow of his brother.

"What is it…?" he asked, demonstrating the qualities he would have _liked _to see only a few minutes before.

"I had a horrible nightmare!" Ed went on in panic, "I was in the military and there was this guy- I don't remember his name, but he called me _short_! I'd say he was just too tall! But he just kept laughing at me and calling me-"

"Brother?"

"Yeah?"

"That's stupid…It's not going to happen…"

"Right…" Al heard Ed's footsteps as he returned to bed, and suddenly, as Ed's breathing evened out, he felt his eyes grow wider. Al sighed in utter disappointment.

"The percent composition oh hydrogen in H20 is…"

No.

It didn't look like Al was going to sleep that night.


	7. Better Than You

**Note from the Author: **You may remember a little reference to something like this happening in the anime. The last few lines of episode 38, I think, Ed and Al are talking about old fights they had, and I thought it was really amusing. I thought it would be fun to write the actual fight. :) Yeah, this one's short too. But it doesn't really matter, does it?

**DISCLAIMER:** I don't own Full Metal Alchemist or any of the characters, no matter how much I may want to.

* * *

Ed shoved Al as hard as he could, sending his younger brother to the ground, but he wasn't down for long. Al jumped back and took what would be technically called the first punch, though the two brothers had been pushing each other back and forth for almost an hour. It was Ed's turn to bring up a cloud of dust as he hit the ground as Al's small fist knocked the side of his face.

"Just because you're older you think you can do anything you want!" Al yelled at Ed, who was standing back up as fast as he could to take his turn at Al.

"That's not true!" Ed fought pathetically, "You're not good enough for her that's all!" Al felt himself grow steadily more angry.

"I am too!" he shouted, swinging at his brother again but missing. When Ed realized the nerves he was hitting, he didn't feel the need to try to physically hit his brother. For now.

"Oh, now you're saying you're better than her?" Ed tormented further.

"No I'm didn't!"

"Sounded like you did!"

"Shut up!" The third swing hit Ed again. Ed's cocky attitude vanished as he pushed himself up for the second time.

"That's it!" he threatened, tossing a more powerful punch at Al, throwing all the strength he had into it, for revenge for the bruises forming on his face, for the damage done to his pride, and the simple satisfaction of proving a non-existing point.

"I'm gonna marry Winry and that's final!" Ed shouted as his curled fingers collided with Al's jaw. Tears started forming in the younger brother's eyes as he grabbed the wounded area and looked angrily at his brother.

"But I want to!" he shouted, "Besides, I like her more than you do!"

"Nu-uh!"

"Uh-huh!"

"Nu-uh!"

"What are you two fighting about?" The Elric brothers stopped fighting and turned with a jump to see the very source of their fight. Both blushed a little and turned away from the other.

"Well, are you gonna answer me or not?" Winry pushed, putting her fists on her hips, ready to scold at any moment.

"Al wants to marry you…" Ed said quietly, "But I want to too…" It sounded so ridiculous when he said it out loud. Winry started giggling. Her hands relaxed and her arms were put down at her side.

"Well, you can both marry me!" she concluded, "You can take turns marrying me whenever you want! Does that help?" Shining smiles covered both Ed and Al's faces. They turned to each other, forgetting the reason they had forming bruises and gave each other a look that settled the entire argument. They looked back at Winry.

"Sure!" they said together.

"Good!" Winry declared triumphantly and walked away feeling accomplished that she had managed to stop a fight _and_ get engaged all in one.

"Hear that, Al, she said _I _could marry her!" Ed poked, bumping his younger brother with his elbow.

"She I could too!" Al shouted back.

"But she really meant _me_!"

"No she didn't! Why would anyone like you? You're mean and you snore!"

"I do not!"

"You do too!"

"Who cares? _I'm_ marrying Winry!"

"No! _I_ am!" _Smack._

"Stop hitting your older brother!"

"You hit me first!"


End file.
